Inspiration

Evening all,

It's Friday night, there's nothing on tv (read: no Kardashians on a Friday, boo...) but my crafting mojo has taken a walk so instead here I am writing a blog about what I am inspired by.

Firstly - Youtube. I must mention my current favourite crafter, Missy Whidden... She designs for lots of companies/kit clubs, and I love to watch her videos. She's always trying something new, her commentaries are interesting to listen to, I look forward to her new uploads.

Lately I've found myself watching a lot more Youtube. I enjoy process videos but I also like watching people showing their newest hauls. You can see the latest trends and take inspiration from what others are trying. 

New stash always helps. I want new things but I won't get a chance to buy them til later next week so the stores have chance to get new stock in.... as I mentioned before I'm desperate to get my mitts on the Paradise Crush pad by Trimcraft, but I like the look of the Papermania Wilson Wood collection... I say like the look but I can't actually find any decent pictures of the papers yet to order online (docrafts seem to have neglected showcasing their newest products in their magazine...). For some reason, I have so much stash I need to use up but I can't get on with anything new in case I buy new things afterwards that I wish I'd used on that layout!

I like to buy the odd magazine, when there's a free gift with it that I like the look of. If the content of the mag is uninspiring then at least there's a nice gift to play with. But generally there's always something in there to be inspired by.

Participate in challenges. There's always some form of starting point given and they really get you going with an idea. Try More Than Words or Things To Alter.

Days out always help me, I love to get new photos to scrap. In fact right now I'm holding off using some Pinkfresh Studio products as I want to use them on an anniversary layout I want to make using a selfie I'll inevitably take with Nathan on Tuesday. Oh man, I'm so excited about our little trip to Chester!...  It doesn't have to be a long trip... just go into town, walk to the shop, sit in the garden... even if you take pictures of flowers or buildings, it can kick start an idea.

Browse your friends' pages. See what they have been making. Have a swap and a blog hop.

Write down all your ideas, no matter how small. Number them. Use this site. Enter in the umber of ideas you have. It'll tell you which one to make. If you don't like that idea, pick again. I do this all the time, I've 30 ideas but right now I don't feel like doing any of them!

Finally, Pinterest. If you're not on there, you're missing out. 

I felt odd writing this as there is so much inspiration out there but sometimes if your mojo is gone, it's gone and you need a few days on with something else and eventually it will come back. I always wind up feeling guilty when I don't make anything and have to resort to my bank of blog posts for something to share... but I know I'll be inspired soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx

This Week.

Hi everyone,

No Tutorial Tuesday this week... I tried recording something yesterday but I'll be honest - what I was making just ended up in a huge mess so I gave up on it.

Instead I want to use today's post to share what's been inspiring me lately and what I've been up to.

Firstly, this exists and I need it more than any paper pad I've ever needed before.

First Edition paper pads are (relatively) pricey but the paper pads are so high quality it's worth it. I'm a little jealous of my friends - I know people on the Trimcraft DT and they received this in their kits, and another friend of mine won it in a competition on Instagram. Hopefully Trimcraft will have a DT call soon and I can throw my hat into the ring. Their products are gorgeous and I've love to design for them. 

Yesterday I saw that I'd made my first sale on Folksy, plus I sold some clothes on eBay - I've started writing my profits down in a notebook, and I have accumulated enough to buy this paper pad (once it comes out - I haven't seen it anywhere yet), and it will be bought guilt free! 

Speaking of sales on Folksy, I had to make a set of 'business cards'. Well, just little cards to make the order a little more professional. I had some for my Etsy store but that was more for my 'art' side of things... so for these I wanted them to be a little more craft themed. 

Last week I did a little doodling, I drew some shells on my desk, painted them with a little watercolour and then scanned them. I learnt how to make patterns in Photoshop so used the shell drawings to come up with some paper designs and used one of them for the background of the little cards. 

I do need to come up with more designs and spend longer playing around with ideas on Photoshop, and when I do I'll be sure to make them into printables that I can then sell online. I love papers that look hand painted, so hopefully other people will too! I've wanted to be able to combine drawing with crafts for so long so maybe now is the opportunity to do so. 

I love packing things to be posted. Getting the bits together, wrapping them up in pretty tissue paper, printing a little card and a packing slip... I'm not weird, I swear....

Finally...

Kaisercraft Boho Dreams.

I was all ready to buy it on Sunday when they had a free postage offer on at Craftie Charlie....  but it was out of stock! Gah!

Anyway, thanks for stopping by!

Emily xx